Lainie Barber pictured her baby crawling on the floor, an image that triggered a call to a green cleaning service -- not because her house seemed dirty but because she didn't consider it baby-safe.
"I wanted all natural products for the kids," says Barber, who lives on the Near West Side of Madison with her husband, Eric Barber, and their children, ages 6 and 15 months. While she had been pleased with a housekeeper who used traditional products, that woman moved out of the country and Barber turned to A Green Experience.
"It's better for us and for the environment," Barber says of Diane Ogden's mostly one-woman business serving several Madison-area clients.
Amy Butrymowicz of Madison picked another green cleaning service, Natura Clean, owned by the Middleton husband-and-wife team of Luis Pino and Kris Koenig. They describe their products as all-natural, non-toxic and biodegradable. Their favorite cleaning chemicals are H20 and CH3COOH, water and acetic acid, the ingredients of vinegar.
"I do like the advantages of green cleaning -- that all those harsh chemicals aren't in my house," Butrymowicz says. "When we have kids, I wouldn't want those."
Nor do she and her husband, Bill, have to worry about their two cats being exposed to toxic cleaning solutions.
Pet owners, adults with chemical sensitivities and customers concerned with the environmental impact of typical cleaning products make up the bulk of the 40 or 50 customers Natura has accumulated during its 18 months in business. Koenig expects to increase staffing by up to four this summer to handle the demand, which has grown since two green expos in Madison this spring.
"Business just really blossomed after them," Koenig says.
A third green housecleaning service in the Madison area is owned by Samantha Rayas, who has about 30 customers in Madison and surrounding areas. "I started to get more customers since I offered nontoxic products," she says.
That has been in the past two years, although Rayas has been calling the business Green Cleaners only since March.
Each of the three services uses different commercial products or their own mixtures of ingredients such as baking soda, borax, vegetable-based Castile soap, essential oils and the ubiquitous vinegar.
"It's my favorite thing. I love it!" Koenig says, laughing at her own exuberance about vinegar.
While the smell of diluted vinegar fades quickly, Koenig adds peppermint oil to her homemade cleaning solutions for the antiseptic and aesthetic qualities, and Ogden burns a vanilla soy candle in homes while she cleans.
While Ogden has been using a floor cleaner bearing the Green Seal of approval, Koenig prefers to add a splash of vinegar to a spray bottle of water, then spray and wipe the floor with a microfiber mop.
Ogden mostly relies on old towels as rags but also uses some paper towels. Koenig hauls a sack of reusable rags, joking, "When we come in, we look like Santa."
Koenig, who describes herself as "passionate" about the environment, adds, "We wash everything in eco-friendly soap in an Energy Star washer."
Ogden uses very hot water, vinegar and the mineral borax but no phosphates or chlorine to clean her rags.
While vinegar is cheap, eco-friendly products from companies such as Earth Friendly and Seventh Generation are not and labor costs are greater.
"Green is a little bit harder and a little bit more muscle," Ogden points out.
She charges $30 an hour -- with a 25 percent discount for customers ages 70 and up -- and estimates an initial cleaning would take three hours; follow-up visits weekly, bi-weekly or monthly usually are two hours.
Rayas does not break down cleaning to an hourly rate but estimates that she would charge $90 to clean a home with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Koenig says Natura does one-time cleaning at $35 per hour but for regular customers charges $80 to $120 per visit. Natura's fees, Koenig says, vary according to the size of the home, frequency of cleaning and whether the house has children or pets.
"We can't compete with an individual cleaner," Koenig says, noting that Natura has business expenses such as insurance. But she has compared her prices to traditional cleaning services and says, "I've always found it to be less than the big ones."
Natura charges Butrymowicz $80 every other week to clean her 1,600-square foot three-bedroom ranch; a Madison-area service not claiming to be green quoted a price of $126 for bi-weekly service on a home that size.
Koenig adds that her business also does more than major surface cleaning and would never use the same cloth to clean a bathroom sink and toilet, one of the "horror" stories she's heard from clients about some other cleaning services.
"We're not rushing out the door. We're paying attention to the details," she says, offering examples such as cleaning tops of light fixtures, fingerprints around cupboards and handles, and dusting off the water supply behind the toilet.
While the business owners focus on the benefits for their clients and the environment, they acknowledge the difference for themselves, too.
"When I used the regular products, I needed to put the chemicals on and go out because I can't breathe inside the bathroom," Rayas recalls, adding that even with gloves on, cleaning chemicals damaged the skin on her hands.
Koenig says, "I don't do well with tub and tile cleaner. I just feel my lungs shutting down."
Butrymowicz, a customer who used to clean her own home with typical products, doesn't notice any decline in the end result of green cleaning. "It's just as clean as when I used traditional products."
Koenig and her husband would argue that it's cleaner now.
"Chemicals aren't clean," they write on their Web site. "They add pollutants to your home, your countertops, where you prepare food for yourself and your loved ones."
Samantha Rayas uses Shaklee products purchased online, Method Products from Target and Ecover scrub from Whole Foods.
Diane Ogden uses vinegar, Bon Ami, baking soda, borax, Castile soap concentrate and some products available from Whole Foods, including Earth Friendly floor cleaner and glass cleaner with lavender, Bio-Clean concentrate and Mrs. Meyer's products.
Natura Clean uses vinegar, baking soda, borax and Castile soap.
Here are a few cleaning mixtures suggested at
With no governmental regulations for use of the "green" term, shoppers looking for eco-friendly products will have to judge for themselves. www.eartheasy.com:
• All-purpose cleaner: Mix 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup baking soda (or 2 teaspoons borax) with 1/2 gallon water and use to clean shower stall, bathroom chrome fixtures, windows, mirrors, etc.
• Floor cleaner: Combine equal parts of white distilled vinegar and water and add several drops of pure peppermint oil. Use for damp-mopping wood floors.
• Oven cleaner: Make a paste of 3/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup salt and 1/4 cup water. Wipe the oven interior with a damp sponge then spread the paste on, avoiding bare metal and openings; let stand overnight, then remove the next day with a spatula and wipe clean, using fine steel wool as needed.
• Drain cleaner: Pour about 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain, then 1/2 cup vinegar; after 15 minutes, pour in boiling water — but only with metal plumbing since plastic could melt from too much boiling water. Also, do not try this method after using a commercial drain cleaner, which could result in dangerous fumes.
• Removal of marks on walls and painted surfaces: Clean using baking soda applied to a damp sponge, rubbing gently then wiping and rinsing.
The cleaning businesses described include:
• Green Cleaners, 219-5986
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